Once more into the fray…
Into the last good fight I’ll ever know.
Live and die on this day…
Live and die on this day…

I saw The Grey tonight. Here are my thoughts:

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WARNING: Mild Spoilers Ahead!

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Never in my life did I think a movie about an egotistical genius who invented a social networking site would be compelling. Nothing about The Social Network should work, but it all does, brilliantly. The acting, writing, directing, and music are all top-notch and are firing on all cylinders. The Social Network is a modern classic that truly defines our times. Sorry Inception, this is the best movie of the year by far.

Instead of going into a long-winded review about how perfect everything in this movie is, I’ll just highlight some points:

• Every performance here is great. The standouts are definitely Jesse Eisenberg as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Andrew Garfield as Zuckerberg’s friend and business partner Eduardo Saverin, and Justin Timberlake as Napster co-founder Sean Parker. All of them deserve to get Oscar nominations.
• Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay is so brilliant and smartly written. I don’t think I’ve seen such an intelligent movie, and the dialogue is delivered so well by the actors.
• David Fincher once again proves why he is my favorite director. The film moves along so briskly and is so compelling and so intense that it draws you in and never lets go. His dark humor is also felt throughout, just don’t blink or you’ll miss it.
• As stated in my review, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ score is excellent and fits perfectly with the tone of the movie. It is never overpowering and is always creeping in the background getting under your skin. And NIN fans, be on the lookout for a very familiar track in one scene.

So in short, The Social Network is the smartest film I’ve seen in a long time and is definitely David Fincher’s finest work since Fight Club. This is a definite front-runner for Best Picture, as well as numerous other awards come Oscar season. This is destined to become a classic and will live on as a testament for our times. Don’t miss it.

10/10

As a long-time fan of Trent Reznor’s work, I had always wondered why he hadn’t worked on a film score before. Pairing him with a movie about Facebook did seem odd at first, but after hearing the film was being helmed by one of my all-time favorite directors, David Fincher, I got really excited. I knew this would be something very different and was excited to hear what Trent and Atticus could cook up. The end result is something truly great and holds its own against some of Trent’s best work.

I haven’t seen the film yet and am going to withhold judgement on how this music fits into the film until I do, but I will say that this score holds up incredibly well on its own. For the record, I am not one to rush out and buy a movie soundtrack. If I like the score to a film I might download a few tracks, but never the entire album. This (along with the Inception score) is an exception. Trent could have released this music under a different album title with different song titles and it would be just as great. 

Trent himself described the sound as electronic yet organic, and that’s the best way to put it. It’s very textured and layered and is best experienced with headphones. All of the trademark TR instruments are here along with a host of new ones. The majority of the tracks are dark, brooding affairs (especially “Eventually We Find Our Way” and the excellent and creepy cover of “In the Hall of the Mountain King”) but some are a bit lighter and quicker-paced than we’d come to expect from TR (like the incredible “Intriguing Possibilities” and “Painted Sun in Abstract”). NIN fans will also recognize two tracks as being remixed versions of songs from 2008’s “Ghosts I-IV” which is a neat little addition to the score.

From my NIN fanboy perspective, this is yet another fantastic piece of work from Trent and Atticus. Listening to this you don’t get the feeling that it was written for a film. Like everything else Trent has done in his career, The Social Network score is meticulously crafted and can be listened to over and over again, and each time you will come away with a different experience. It may seem odd for me to say this about a film score, but this is definitely one of my favorite albums of the year.

Come Oscar time it’s gonna be hard for me to decide who to root for in the Original Score category. Both this and the Inception soundtrack are extraordinary and worthy of winning. However, I would love nothing more than to see the words “Oscar winner” next to Trent Reznor’s name. Besides, I just know Trent’s acceptance speech would be awesome.

9.5/10